2017

What an interesting year I have had in 2017. Many exciting things that happened a few disappointments but most importantly understanding more about myself and what I am capable of as well as the fact that the world is full of people who want the best for themselves, their families and their community. In 2017 I started my own company with Rikki Jack and left the confines of permanent employment. I worked long hours and looked after my body, well at least for the first 9 months of the year. I was not as creative in terms of visual design work as spare time was at a premium. 2017 saw the birth of two more Nieces and sadly the passing of my Gran, an amazing woman who is such an inspiration.

I was privileged to end the year off with a great deal of travel, something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I visited 10 different countries (France and Switzerland don’t count I guess as I did not leave the airport) on 27 flights going around the world three times, flying for one week.

All the Travel was for work with Wealth Migrate launching global offices and attending blockchain events. The travel was on three separate trips.

Trip 1

• London for a week, flew in through Dubai
• Dubai for 3 Days
• Athens for 3 days where I spoke at a conference on Crowdfunding in Africa
• London for 4 more days, the flight was through Zurich both ways but I did not get to leave the airport.
• Athens for one day before flying back to Cape Town through Dubai

Trip 2

• Atlanta for 2 days
• New York for 3 Days
• Connecticut for 2 days to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins there, some for the first time in many years
• Las Vegas for 5 days
• London for 2 days
• Gibraltar for 3 days I actually stayed in the Alcaidesa Marina, La Linea de la Concepción, Spain
• London for 2 days after which I flew home through Paris but unfortunately could not leave the airport.

Trip 3

• Brisbane for 5 days
• Sydney for 18 days with my Brother and Sister and two amazing Nephews
• Tokyo for 5 days
• This trip was with Emirates so went through Dubai on both ends of the trip

This travel was my first international travel so talk about starting off with a bang :-). Travel should be compulsory for people to do in order to get an understanding of the world that we live in, the fact that we are all more similar than we think and that a global viewpoint is so powerful. I would recommend to anyone to travel, the world is so full of opportunity and traveling abroad gives you massive perspective.

I read and listened to some amazing books for the first time in 2017: The Upstarts, Stealing Fire, The hard thing about hard things, Leaders eat last, Whats your moonshot and busy with Finding my virginity. I also reread some of my staple favourites such a Bold, Exponential Organisations, Anything you want, Positive Intelligence, The code of the extraordinary mind and Pitch Anything.

As part of my 2018 goal and vision setting I have made it a point to write more things down whether these are public in the form of this blog or whether it is just in private will remain to be seen.

Have a fantastic 2018!